James and Sammies Little Adventure

We would be driving from Melbourne to Geelong were the road...

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:08:52 -0400

We would be driving from Melbourne to Geelong were the road begins to its end just outside Warrnambool, we would then restock, turn around and drive it in reverse.

The great Ocean road

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:01:28 -0400

What Wikipedia can tell you -
” The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed
243-kilometre (151 mile) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of
Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road
was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world’s
largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I. It is an
important tourist attraction in the region, which winds through varying
terrain alongside the coast, and provides access to several prominent
landmarks; including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles limestone
stack formations.”

Sydney day 6 photos

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:26:24 -0400

Sydney day 6 photos

Sydney day 6

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:43:32 -0400

We had at some point the night before arranged to go to bondi beach again
as max amd Simon wanted to go and we had wanted to go again as the weather
was so nice. The plan was to meet at half 9 then go together. We managed to
crawl out of bed and be eating breakfast at this time but the others were
still in bed. We all managed to leave at half 10 though after checking out
and storing our bags. We took the train and bus again and had a great day
chilling and recovering. Max bought a ball so we played about with that and
actually went swimming. Max had just got his tattoo so we fashioned a
bra/bandage for him so he could keep it covered.
They had to leave at half 3 to catch their flight to Bangkok so we stayed
for a bit longer and watched a man and his kids finish their incredible
sand castle that was as big as a child and they had been working on all
day! We got back to central station and found a cheap small dinner, Sammie
had frozen yoghurt covered in fruit and sweets and i had my first hungry
jacks (Aussie burger king) and it was amazing. Then chilled in the hostel
for a while then walked with all our bags to the train station. We checked
in our bags and spoke to the nice man about what to do in Melbourne as he
goes there often.
We then boarded the over night train from hell!

Sydney day 5 photos part 3

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:20:31 -0400

Sydney day 5 photos part 3

Sydney day 5 photos part 2

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:16:32 -0400

Sydney day 5 photos part 2

Sydney day 5 photos

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:13:54 -0400

Sydney day 5 photos

Sydney day 5

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:48:23 -0400

Today we had arranged to meet up with our friend that sammie has known
since year 3 and i met at college. He moved to live in Sydney at the end of
our exams so it was quite nice to meet up with him and catch up. We were
meeting in cargo bar in darling harbour to have $10 steak and chips. We
took the free shuttle bus up to woolworths to get more ice tea (we have
both drunk a life supply on this trip) then walked to the harbour. I made
the mistake of wearing jeans as it was really hot but I managed to burn my
legs at the beach so probably best I kept them covered. We got there early
so we managed to have a good walk and look around the harbour. Saw lots of
boats and an old submarine which was cool (not to sammie) we met James at 2
amd had an amazing steak and chips, best lunch we had in Sydney as every
other day we had philidelphia sandwiches. The beer was bloody expensive
though! We chatted for 2 hours amd it was really strange how strong his
Aussie accent was already, we thought he was taking the pics at first.
We parted ways after that as he had to go to a lecture so we walked to the
rocks which is the area to the left of Sydney Harbour and the bridge. It
was very cramped down there with lots of expensive cake shops and cafes. We
then walked about a quarter of the way across the bridge hen came back as
we wanted to get to the opera house to meet our next friends who were
travelling. Max and Simon met us I the Sydney bar which was bloody
expensive and I managed to burn my ears while speaking to them. Great view
though. We chatted for a while and they said that they had just checked
into the same hostel as us then they took a walk to find food and we walked
around the opera house, it was not as pretty up close, looked really old
and stained a bit yellow in places. Lots of work was being done to it
aswell wich was a shame. Got some good pictures together though. We all
then walked through the botanical gardens to Mrs Macquiries point as max
wanted to see it, we had been on our first day but we managed to get there
at sunset this time and it was an incredible view. The sun went down behind
the bridge then the opera house leaving their silhouettes in front of a
deep red sky.
We all then walked to woolworths to get our dinner, we chose curry, cookies
and doughnuts.
After eating we all went out to a bar down the road that offered free entry
amd a free drink. We stayed till about 1 before being too tired to carry on
as the i must have got sun stoke as I felt awful.
One successful T. C later and I managed to fall asleep.

Sydney day 4 photos

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:20:08 -0400

Sydney day 4 photos

Sydney day 4

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:10:54 -0400

Today it was forecast to be very hot and sunny so we decided to go to bondi
beach. Sammie was under the impression that on this midweek day we would
not get a good spot (whatever that means) on the world famous, HUGE beach
unless we got there early in the morning. I said fine it won’t be necessary
but ok. We got the train from central station to bondi junction, the
underground was very confusing and the trains have an upstairs and
downstairs, very odd. Then took the bus to the beach. Both return only cost
£7 which was good. We got to the beach for 9.45 and just as I thought it
was empty and the sun was not fully out yet. Sammie then set about finding
a good spot which to me looked like every other spot.

Now if you have ever been to the beach with sammie then you will be as
baffled as I still am about her love hate relationship with it. Her towel
must at all times be A) facing the sun and B) not have a single grain of
sand on top of it. This becomes an all day war between her and the wind,
other people walking past, the wind, me, the wind and herself. It really is
quite entertaining for me though. Oh and the number of bloody seagulls on
this beach and in Sydney in general, were so annoying, constantly bugging
you for whatever they could try fit in their mouths and then fight over.
Sammie was getting alot more angry at them than I was especially as they
managed to flick up more sand for her to battle. She ended up taking
revenge on them with her flip flops.

Any way we did the usual, eat, drink, read, sleep and dip our feet in the
cold water. I did take a dip in the natural pools at the end of the beach.
Then at 4 when it got too cold amd the clouds set in we both took a walk to
the rocks at the north of the beach and got a good view of the cliff. We
then took the bus and train back to make our dinner.

Sydney day 3 photos part 2

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:51:01 -0400

Sydney day 3 photos part 2

Sydney day 3 photos

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:46:32 -0400

Sydney day 3 photos

Sydney day 3

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:32:58 -0400

Today we were off to Toronga zoo. Sammie could not have been more excited.
First stop was woolworths to get supplys then we took the free city shuttle
bus to the pier in order to get the ferry to the zoo entrance.

Saw pretty much everything you would expect from a zoo but the stand out
things were the kangroos that were hardly fenced in just a log separated
you from them. They were so bloody lazy that they must not be bothered by
the people they just rolled around in the sun. The larger ones (95kg) were
in a separate section enclosed but we saw them get fed, the largest one
didn’t seem hungry so instead lifted his massive balls amd gave them a good
lick while the zoo keeper tried to wave a branch of leaves at him. One
young boy shouted, “coorrrrr look at his balls mum! He must be a male!”
much to the amusement of everyone else. The mum embarrassed laughed it off
joking “he may not look it but he ls a smart one!”
The bird show was also a favourite as they fly right over your head towards
the stage. All while you have a great view of the city and Sydney Harbour.

When we had seen every thing and the zoo was about to shut we took the
bubble car back over the zoo, getting another good view, back to the ferry.
The free shuttle bus had stopped at this point so we had to walk back to
the hostel but his have us time to get food from woolworths to cook for
dinner.

Sydney day 2 photos part 2

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:30:06 -0400

Sydney day 2 photos part 2

Sydney day 2 photos part 1

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:28:55 -0400

Sydney day 2 photos part 1

Sydney day 2

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:50:52 -0400

Today was our first proper day in Sydney so we decided to take a long walk
to woolloomooloo harbour. Only after having coco pops for breakfast and
making our sandwiches for lunch. The harbour was beautiful and full of huge
boats and many expensive restaurants. We looked really out of place in
thongs (flip flops) and eating our pack lunch at the end of the harbour
with the fisherman that didn’t catch anything. It was so hot and sunny that
we ended up sitting there for a while just watching the boats. Eventually
took a walk round to the botanical gardens and as Sammie needed the toilet
we went into the free art gallery that was alright. Aussie art is ummmm
interesting. We then took a walk to the top of the botanical gardens going
past the speakers corner, Aussie seem to use it as more of an excuse to
just have an argument with strangers! Very funny though. The view from the
top was amazing, we watched as the sun went down behind the bridge and the
opera house. I also got splashed by a rouge wave that came out of nowhere.
We walked back to the hostel and made our dinner, pasta with vegetables
much to the amusement of the giant Aussie bloke cooking sausages and
noodles next to me. He was so shocked that we had no meat. Luckily he told
me there is a woolworths nearby (not the same as back home) so that is
where we would be getting our cheap food from now on. Hopefully some meat!

Sydney day 1 photos

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:40:46 -0400

Sydney day 1 photos

Sydney day 1

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:39:21 -0400

After getting through the very strict quarantine that stops your bringing
wood, food or dirty shoes into Australia we got out of the airport and
managed to find a bus going to central station. Luckily it turned out we
didnt have to pay or we just didn’t amd every one had payed in advance but
it was too busy with backpackers for anyone to move let alone check
tickets. Our new hostel was just down the road from the station, thanks to
the friendly man on the bus we knew this! We only booked the hostel the day
before having read horrible reviews of the one we had originally booked. We
tried to check in but our room was apparently not completely cleaned yet so
we could store our bags I there but not use the bed yet. Probably for the
best as I would have fallen straight to sleep had I sat on it! (I can’t do
night flights) so we decided to take a wander and let the cleaners get to
work. Luckily we found the paddy market just down the road, and it sold all
the tourist tat you could ask for. We desperately needed towels as the
micro fibre ones were getting very annoying. So we got extremely touristy
tacky ones. We then managed to find a nandos in the shopping centre so we
instantly decided that is where we would be having dinner. We couldn’t find
any super markets to find a cheap lunch so ended up paying a fiver for a
sandwich from 7 eleven. We took our expensive lunches back to the hostel
and ate in the room. We both had a shower to try and wake up and wash the
plane off. We went back out to try and find somewhere to get cheap food to
cook in the hostel, but could and only found a corner shop where we got
expensive coco pops, milk, cream cheese, bread and pasta. We then decided
to cut back through the food market that happened to be closing for the 2
days that they get off. This meant all the stalls were trying to shift all
their produce very quickly and very cheaply so we got tomatoes, peppers,
bananas and an avocado for sammie. Got back to the hostel and both fell
asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up we went straight to nandos.
It wasn’t as good as back home and sammie didn’t really enjoy it but I
missed it so much I didn’t care. Early night and I slept like a log, not
looking forward to the flight back to England!

Hong Kong photos part 4

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:50:47 -0400

Hong Kong photos part 4

Hong Kong final day

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:36:36 -0400

Had to check out at 10 but as our flight wasn’t till the afternoon we left
our bags in the bag store on floor 5. Had a last breakfast from the little
bakery and got drinks from 7 eleven then took a walk around and figured out
where exactly we would be getting the airport shuttle bus from as the
hotels map was useless. Turns out it was right next to our subway station,
fortress hill. I’m glad we did take the airport express train on the first
day as it was a good way to see all the islands and we would have had no
idea when to get of the shuttle bus. Grabbed the bags from the hotel and
rushed to the stop but the driver was late (no change from back home) he
then had a go at me and rushed me when I didn’t know to pay him by shoving
the money into what is usually the bin on English busses. He didn’t even
look at how much I had, could have just slipped in some rubbish.

Flight stopped over in kuala Lumpha for 3 hours and I assumed that the next
flight would not have any meal as it was so late so we got a burger king.
Turned out it did so I had 3 dinners as Sammie didn’t eat hers. That meant
they only turned off the planes lights for 4 hours in total. So after no
sleep whatsoever but alot of film watching and passive aggression towards
every screaming baby, snoring man and constant toilet visiting passenger we
made it to Sydney!